Golf in Farmington

The sounds of jovial chit-chat, sharply struck drives, and golf balls rattling into holes fill the air at Canton Indoor Golf Center, where guests can hone their swings or putting strokes in a festive environment with its own sports bar. Stationed around the center’s perimeter, eight high-definition Year Roundz golf simulators transport clubbers to digital models of courses such as Pebble Beach and Bay Hill. Throughout rounds, swing-tracking technology ensures that each flush tee shot finds the fairway and each errant swing prompts digital avatars to berate their 9-iron. An indoor green fosters freestyle putting practice, and the colorful, pirate-themed corridors of Glow Cove’s black-light mini golf offer a more competitive challenge to slope-reading skills. The multifaceted practice facility provides a climate-controlled venue for lessons conducted by PGA-certified instructors, who use the simulators’ swing analysis features to sharpen their observational prowess and gather intelligence for mankind’s reckoning with intelligent machines.

Sudsy libations from Year Roundz Sports Bar & Grill keep guests in high spirits as they engage in golf fun or simply lounge in the glow of sports-tuned TVs. Guests hungry after a simulated round of golf or a club-shaft-bending competition can curb their appetites with a burger, cheesesteak, or margarita pizza from the kitchen.

When Arnold Palmer’s architectural firm set out to design the 18-hole course at Gillette Ridge Golf Club, it incorporated a long, wooded layout that would showcase the 19th-century politician and reformer Francis Gillette’s original homestead. Today, the course continues to showcase its beautifully crafted layout that has maintained the elegance of a bygone era while opting to share its charming characteristics with the public. Gillette Ridge welcomes all golfers to take on the blistering 7,191-yard tract that integrates groves of mature trees, placid water hazards, and white-sand bunkers that surround contoured greens.

Much of the course's difficulty comes from its length, as demonstrated on the par 5 seventh and 12th holes, which stretch 612 yards and 607 yards from the tips, respectively. Both holes make it nearly impossible to reach the green in two, though for different reasons: the seventh green prevents run-ups with a front side stream, whereas the 12th hole has an early dogleg right that demands more conservative tee shots and golf carts that are pro-environment. The course's premium on distance continues right through the finishing hole, a par 4, 478-yard straightaway that splits two fairway bunkers and forces players to carry the green's front side pond on their approach shot or hope that a friendly frog will lend a lily pad for safe passage. Three practice putting greens, two practice bunkers, and an all-grass driving range provide ample space for golfers to stretch their swings before rounds.

After rounds, players can unwind in Gillette Ridge’s 6,000-square-foot clubhouse, where the course restaurant serves up sandwiches such as the philly cheesesteak and chicken-salad sliders, and starters such as Maryland crab cakes and quesadillas—the late Mrs. Gillette’s specialty that has carried on since the 19th century.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 72 course

• Total length of 7,191 yards from the back tees

• Course rating of 74.8 from the back tees

• Course slope of 135 from the back tees

• Four sets of tees per hole

• Scorecard

The 18-hole course at The Tradition at Windsor showcases a design that features emerald chutes enveloped by dense forest. The 6,068-yard layout recently received a major renovation by Roger Rulewich, former chief architect for legendary designer Robert Trent Jones, Sr. The course now features repositioned and reshaped bunkers, rendering it more enjoyable, difficult, and suited for sunbathing in the sand. Though the bunkers may look slightly different, most of the course's original splendor remains.

On the fourth hole, golfers can lay up short of the pond that lies just beyond the end of the fairway, leaving a mid- to short-iron onto the elevated green. On the 18th-hole finale, players must bypass a stream that cuts the par 5 in half, then lay up at the bottom of a large hill rather than trying to reach the green in two or waiting for tectonic plate shifts to make it more approachable.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 71 course
• Total length of 6,068 yards from the back tees
• Course rating of 69.8 from the back tees
• Course slope of 119 from the back tees
• Three sets of tees per hole

Banner Country Club's 18-hole public course rolls across 6,015 yards of Connecticut countryside, challenging golfers of all stripes with diverse, player-friendly terrain. The course's emerald corridors roam through a combination of open pastures and tree-lined areas, letting golfers unsheathe muscular drivers on forgiving holes before forcing them to whisper words of confidence to timid long irons when aiming through arboreal alleys. The picturesque par 72 invites aces to hunt birdies across its relatively short layout, while offering a training ground for club-toting cadets still trying to perfect their swing or wield modified canes as golf clubs.

Course at a Glance:

18-hole, par 72 course

Length of 6,015 yards

Course rating of 68.9

Slope rating of 118

Gary Broadwell draws upon 24 years of teaching experience each time he leads beginners and juniors up golf's learning curve through lessons. Gary dissects swing mechanics and offers corrective advice for the full swing and putting stroke, helping players attain their goals of lower scores and improved accuracy when hitting out of a neighbor's sandbox. Four-day junior golf camps allow children aged 6–14 to learn the game within a fun, constructive atmosphere.

Twin Lakes Golf Course is set on grounds that have been walked by golfers for more than 50 years, but enjoy the modern touches of a recent revamping. New tee boxes reside atop the professionally manicured greens that carpet the 10-acre course. Its renovated clubhouse offers guests the supplies they need for gameplay, including clubs and pull carts. After a round, players can return to the clubhouse where pizza bubbles in a wood-burning oven and cool beverages flow freely from taps.